Elephantine Island, just off the coast of Aswan, is home
to many artifacts dating to the predynastic periods, including the Elephantine Temple.
Elephantine Island is home to many artifacts dating to the predynastic periods.

The island is very beautiful, and while many of the artifacts there are
in ruin, there are still a considerable number of things to see.
One of its main attractions is its Nilometer, one of only
three on the Nile, which was used to measure the water level of the Nile
as late as the nineteenth century.
There has been an ongoing excavation at the town for many years by the German Archaeological Institute, and some of the finds along with many other island artifacts, including a mummified ram of Khnum, are located in the Elephantine Museum. Another major attraction is the ruins of the Temple of Khnum. Elephantine Island was considered to be home of this important Egyptian god, and while this structure dates back to the Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty, there are references to a Temple of Khnum on the island as early as the 3rd Dynasty. There are also ruins of a Temple of Satet, who was Khnum's female counterpart.